‘Rebel’ was selected in 2000 in Griffin, Ga. from open pollinated seedlings of FL 92-84 planted in Griffin in 1997. ‘Rebel’ is a hybrid containing predominantly V. corymbosum. FL 92-84, named ‘Primadonna’ by the University of Florida has not been patented to date. ‘Rebel’ differs from its female parent ‘Primadonna’ by being less upright in plant stature, and more spreading instead. Also, ‘Rebel’ leaves emerge readily during and shortly after flowering, whereas, ‘Primadonna’ tends to flower before leafing, often resulting in too few leaves to support good berry growth. ‘Rebel’ flowers 5 days after ‘Primadonna’, and ripens at a similar time. Finally, ‘Rebel’ is self-fruitful to a degree, whereas, ‘Primadonna’ is described are not being very self-fruitful. ‘Rebel’ has been tested in plantings at Alapaha and Griffin, Ga., since 2001. The selection was planted at a grower test site in 2003 in Ware County, Ga. and was planted in a high density test at Alapaha, Ga. in 2003.
‘Rebel’ has been asexually propagated on many occasions since 2000 by softwood cuttings at Griffin Ga. It roots readily from softwood cuttings and in all cases the clones propagated from cuttings have maintained the vegetative and fruit characteristics of the original selection.
‘Rebel’ has been primarily compared with the current, early southern highbush standard, ‘Star’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,675), grown under field conditions at Alapaha and Griffin, Ga. over a 3 year period.
Over the 3 year period 2003-2005, the date of 50% flowering of ‘Rebel’ was an average of 3 days earlier than ‘Star’, although this was not significantly different at the 10% probability level. The average date of 50% fruit ripening of ‘Rebel’ was significantly earlier by 8 days than ‘Star’, which has been highly acclaimed for its earliness.
Over the same period, the average berry size (7.8 vs. 7.0), berry scar (8.3 vs. 7.8), berry color (8.1 vs. 7.6) and berry firmness (7.8 vs. 7.6) for ‘Rebel’ was better than ‘Star’. All values are based on a 1 to 10 score, with 10 being the most desirable and a value of 6-7 generally considered to be the minimum acceptable rating for a commercial cultivar. The plant vigor rating of ‘Rebel’ at 7.8 was greater than that of ‘Star’ at 6.4.
The fruit yield in 2005 on plants established in 2001 at Griffin, Ga. began significantly earlier for ‘Rebel’, which had a yield of 600 g/plant compared to less than 100 g/plant for ‘Star’ on May 18th, and the final yield of 1700 g/plant was also significantly greater than ‘Star’ at 900 g/plant.
Some growers in Georgia are growing southern highbush blueberries in a high density system utilizing pine bark beds. High density plantings were established during 2003 at Alapaha and Ware County, Ga., to evaluate the performance of ‘Rebel’ compared to ‘Star’ and ‘O'Neal’ (non patented) under these conditions. ‘Rebel’ showed earlier production of fruit (210 g/plant by May 11) than ‘Star’ and ‘O'Neal’ (less than 30 g/plant), and a higher final yield (450 g/plant) than ‘Star’ (220 g/plant) and ‘O'Neal’ (390 g/plant). Over a 2 year period, 2004 and 2005, under high density planting, ‘Rebel’ flowered 3 days earlier than ‘Star’ and 8 days earlier than ‘O'Neal’, and 50% ripening was 8 days earlier than ‘Star’ and 16 days earlier than ‘O'Neal’. Under these growth conditions the berry characteristics, size, scar, color and firmness of ‘Rebel’ were similar or better than ‘Star’ and ‘O'Neal’, and the plant vigor, at a rating of 9.1 was significantly better than ‘Star’ (7.8) or ‘O'Neal’ (6.8).